i LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.! 

# # 

i [SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT.] J 

# ^ ,0(0 I 



! UNITED STATES OP AMERICA ! 



THE 



SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE 



OF 



SANCTIFICATION 



STATED, AND DEFENDED/' - 



ff£ 



AGAINST THE 



ERROR OF PERFECTIONISM. 



BY 



W. D. SNODGRASS, D. D. 



" I have seen an end of all perfection." — Psalm cxix. 96. 



PHILADELPHIA : 
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by 

A. W. MITCHELL, M. D., 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District 

of Pennsylvania. 



The Library 

of Congress 



WASHINGTON 



CONTENTS. 



PART I. 

Page 

The Doctrine of Sanctification, 5 



PART XL 

Entire Sanctification, - - - - 18 

PART m. 

Practical Considerations, - - - - - 89 



PA-KT I. 

THE DOCTRINE OF SANCTIFICATION. 



1 Thess. iv. 3., This is the will of God even your 
sanctification. 

Although it is well to be familiar with the 
most comprehensive views which we can 
take of the nature and designs of the Chris- 
tian system, there is also an advantage in 
setting ourselves at times to the examination 
of its particular parts. Considered as a 
whole, there is perfect unity, not only in 
the system itself, but in all its operations 
and fruits ; but it is the unity of a body 
consisting of many members, or of a build- 
ing composed of different stones. The parts 
are related; and each one occupies a place 
in the formation of the same great and con- 
sistent whole. But still, as compared among 

themselves, there is a difference between 
1* 5 



b SANCTIFICATION 

them. And the more accurately we view 
them in detail, the more we shall appreciate 
them in their combined existence and in 
their several bearings upon the great end 
which they are intended to secure. 

No attentive reader of the Bible can fail 
to notice, that among the parts which go to 
make up the system of faith and duty there 
revealed, a prominent place is assigned to 
what is called Sanctification. " This is 
the will of God," says the apostle, " even 
your sanctification." " Sanctify them through 
thy truth," says the Saviour, " thy word is 
truth." Heaven is represented as an " in- 
heritance among them that are sanctified," 
and all true Christians are described as 
"they that are sanctified in Christ Jesus." 
Our first inquiry then shall be, What is 
Sanctification, as to its general nature, and 
in the relation which it sustains to the other 
parts of the Christian system ? 

In regard to the meaning of the word, we 
may say, that, while it has various signifi- 
cations in Scripture, there is no dispute as to 
its import in the passages which are quoted 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 7 

above. — Sometimes, and especially in the 
phraseology of the Old Testament, to sanctify 
is nothing more than to set apart a person or 
thing from a common to a sacred use, by an 
external and visible dedication— in which 
sense the Jewish Temple and Priesthood, 
with all the furniture of the former, and all 
the garments of the latter, were said to be 
holy. They had no more real sanctity than 
other persons and things; but they were 
relatively holy, inasmuch as they were for- 
mally consecrated to the worship and service 
of God. In the New Testament, however, 
the word is generally used with an exclusive 
reference to persons ; and, in its phraseology, 
to sanctify them is to make them really holy. 
This is the true and proper sense of the 
word ; and we are thus to understand it in 
all those connexions in which it is used to 
describe the great change which must pass 
upon the moral character of man, before he 
can become a finished subject of the scheme 
of redemption by the gospel of Christ. 

The necessity of such a change as this 
word imports, arises from the fact that the 



8 SANCTIFICATION 

state in which the Gospel finds us is an un- 
holy state ; we are defiled, and need to be 
cleansed ; we are polluted, and need to be 
purified. And this fact will come before us 
in its true relations, if we advert for a mo-, 
ment to the two principal ways in which sin 
has affected us. In the first place, it has 
exposed us to punishment ; and has thereby 
affected us relatively — that is, in the relations 
in which we stand to the law and govern- 
ment of God. Instead of regarding us as 
innocent, he views us as guilty ; and, instead 
of having a title to his favor, we are liable 
to his wrath both here and hereafter. And, 
in the second place, it has brought our nature 
into a state of depravity or moral disorder, 
and has thereby affected us inherently. It 
has corrupted our moral character and con- 
stitution — it has alienated our affections from 
God — and brought us under the dominion 
of influences which are impure in their na 
ture and tendency. — Now, it is with reference 
to the effects of sin in these two important 
respects, that the scheme of human redemp- 
tion is constructed. It provides, through the 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 9 

sacrifice and intercession of the great Media- 
tor for so altering our relation to God and 
his law, that instead of being exposed to his 
wrath we have an interest in his favor. 
And to this department belongs all that the 
Scriptures teach in relation to forgiveness, 
justification, adoption, and a full and public 
acquittal in the day of judgment. But, in 
addition to this, it provides, through the office 
and mission of the Holy Spirit, for the recti- 
fication of our moral nature — for retracing 
upon us the image of God which has been 
defaced by sin — for restoring our moral 
powers to their right use and exercise — or 
for bringing us back, as an apostle describes 
it, to a state of " righteousness and true holi- 
ness." And this department of the work is 
comprehended in what the Scriptures teach 
under the name of " Sanctification." While 
the other is a work without us, this is a work 
within us. And the latter is quite as neces- 
sary as the former in securing the great end 
which the mediation of Christ has in view. 
For, of what advantage would it be to us 
to be pardoned and justified, unless we were 



10 SANCTIFICATION 

also sanctified or made holy ? An unholy 
being could not be admitted to heaven ; and, 
if it could, it would not be happy. Places 
and things are means and sources of happi- 
ness only to those in whom there exists a 
corresponding taste. That which is relished 
by one, may be distasteful to another, because 
their likings may run in different directions; 
their appetites may be different, and, for this 
reason, if they are to be gratified, they must 
be fed upon food of different kinds. — Nor is 
there any case in which the operation of this 
principle is more striking than in the one 
which we are now considering. Holy and 
unholy beings are at the widest possible ex- 
tremes as to their moral tastes ; and on this 
account, different and widely distant places 
are assigned them as their future and perma- 
nent abode. Heaven is the appointed habi- 
tation of the former. Hell will be the com- 
mon receptacle of the latter. In heaven all 
will be holiness, without any admixture or 
proportion of sin. The place itself will be 
holy ; all the inhabitants will be holy ; and 
the same attribute will attach to its employ 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 11 

ments and pleasures. There is nothing to 
enter there "that defileth, neither whatsoever 
worketh abomination." So that, unless we 
are sanctified, there is a double reason why 
we cannot enter into the kingdom of God — 
we are not only excluded by a positive law 
of the kingdom itself; but we are excluded 
by a radical defect in our own nature. We 
must be assimilated in character and taste 
to the circumstances of the place, or heaven 
itself would be a hell to us. In short, there 
is no place of happiness for an unsanctified 
being in the universe of God. 

As to the commencement of this necessary 
change, in the case of those who are finally 
fitted for heaven, it is referred to in the use 
of other words and phrases than those which 
mark its progress and completion. It is de- 
scribed, sometimes, as a second birth, some- 
times as a passage from death unto life, 
sometimes as a new creation, and in one 
place it is called "regeneration." This dif- 
fers from sanctification as the beginning of a 
thing differs from its continuance. And the 
relation of one to the other is clearly set forth 



12 SANCTIFICATION 

by an apostle, when he says, " He which 
hath begun a good work in you will perform 
it until the day of Jesus Christ." The author 
of the work is the same in all its parts. He 
who begins it is the same agent who carries 
it on ; and we have no reason to suppose 
that the influence which is exerted in its pro- 
gress is different from that which operates at 
the commencement. It is one work, and the 
efficient power which is concerned in pro- 
ducing it is one, but it consists of different 
stages or degrees. It is not perfect at once, 
but passes from an imperfect state to one 
which is more perfect. It is not instanta- 
neous, but progressive. The " going forth" 
of God in its execution " is prepared as the 
morning," and he comes " as the rain, as the 
latter and former rain unto the earth." In 
regeneration, the day dawns and the day-star 
arises — the drops begin to fall which are an 
earnest of the approaching shower — and, as 
the light increases to the perfect day, and the 
drops multiply until the surface of the ground 
is saturated with water, so is the sanctifica- 
tion of the people of God. He acts towards 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 13 

them as he did in ancient time towards the 
people of Israel. He does not drive out their 
enemies before them " in one day," but " by 
little and little." "Beholding as in a glass 
the glory of the Lord," they are "changed 
into the same image from glory to glory." 

In presenting it thus, it will be seen, that 
we regard sanctification as the work of God. 
And this view of its nature is demanded, as 
well by the obvious meaning of the word, as 
by the uniform teachings of Scripture in the 
use of other modes of expression. Sanctifi- 
cation is not synonymous with holiness — it is 
not the state of one who is made holy — but 
it is the act by which such a state is produced. 
It is the work of an efficient agent : and this 
agent is neither " blood," nor " the will of the 
flesh," nor "the will of man," but "God." 
" He that has wrought us for the self same 
thing is God." And, while it is brought into 
view as the work of God in general, it is 
also represented as the work of each Person 
in the Godhead in particular. To the Father, 
we are directed to offer our supplications, 
that he would give us a new heart and a 



14 SANCTIFICATION 

right spirit, that he would circumcise our 
hearts to love and fear him, that he would 
sanctify us and make us perfect in every 
good work : — Of the Son, it is written, that 
" He gave himself for us, that he might re- 
deem us from all iniquity and purify unto 
himself a peculiar people zealous of good 
works," that he " suffered without the gate 
that he might sanctify the people with his 
own blood," that he " loved the Church and 
gave himself for it that he might sanctify 
and cleanse it :" — And, as revealing the 
Spirit's agency in the work, it is called the 
" sanctification of the Spirit," is attributed to 
the pouring out of the Spirit, and is repre- 
sented as a fruit of the Spirit. 

But, while we regard it as the work of 
God, it is important in another view that we 
should regard it as the work and the duty of 
man. The subject of it is a rational and re- 
sponsible agent. He is bound to be holy ; 
and nothing short of perfect holiness can an- 
swer to the measure of his obligations. The 
law of God, which is the rule of life to him, 
is the standard of holiness ; and, until this 



STATED A>~D DEFENDED. 15 

standard is reached, he is properly dealt with 
in the use of arguments, exhortations, and 
motives. He has a duty to perform and a 
work to do ; and that is to follow holiness, 
to purify himself, to cleanse himself from all 
filthiness both of the flesh and of the spirit. 
In prosecuting this work, his reliance for 
success must be, on the Spirit of God work- 
ing by appointed means. He must be active, 
yet he must not depend on himself. He 
must have recourse to meditation and prayer, 
to watchfulness and self-examination, to 
christian intercourse and counsel, and to all 
positive institutions, especially the reading 
and hearing of the word ; but, in all this, he 
must remember that the means are nothing 
without an influence from God to render 
them effectual. Their whole efficiency lies 
in the fact, that they are of God's appoint- 
ment, and that he has promised to bless 
them. And hence, our only encouragement 
to be active in the use of means, is made to 
rest upon our knowledge of the interposition 
and the agency of God. " Work out your 
own salvation with fear and trembling ; for 



16 SANCTIFICATION 

it is God which worketh in you both to will 
and to do of his good pleasure." 

Nor is their any inconsistency or confusion 
in the idea of these two agencies as working 
together in the production of the same result. 
They are not of the same kind ; the sphere 
of their operation is not the same ; one is 
efficient, the other instrumental. And, so 
accustomed are we to assign to each the 
place and position of a real agency, that we 
often ascribe the same event, sometimes to 
God, and sometimes to man. We say of an 
individual that he has risen from indigence 
to affluence, or from obscurity to distinction, 
by the Providence of God ; but we are not 
supposed to contradict ourselves, if we after- 
wards say, that he has succeeded by his own 
prudence, wisdom, and skill. Both state- 
ments are true, though in different senses. 
And accordingly they are both adopted by 
the sacred writers in reference to the work 
of sanctification. In one place, we are taught 
to call upon God to sanctify us ; in another, 
we are commanded to sanctify ourselves. 
One introduces God as promising us a new 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 17 

heart and a right spirit, and another com- 
mands us to make to ourselves a new heart 
and a right spirit. And both these views 
are important in practice, as well as true and 
consistent in theory. We need the idea of 
human agency to incite us to activity ; and 
we need the doctrine of Divine influence and 
efficiency to remind us of our dependence, to 
make us pray " without ceasing," and to se- 
cure the conviction that our salvation is " not 
of works," but of " grace." " Not by works, 
of righteousness which we have done, but 
according to his mercy he saved us, by the 
washing of regeneration and renewing of the 
Holy Ghost." 

This, then, as to its general nature, is sanc- 
tification ; and these are the circumstances 
under which it may be expected to advance, 
considered both as the work of God and the 
duty of man. 



2 # 



PAET II. 

ENTIRE SANCTXFXCATION. 

1 Thess. v. 23. And the very God of peace sanctify 
you wholly. 

That full provision is made for consum- 
mating the work of sanctification, as well as 
for its commencement and progress, is not 
doubted by any. All evangelical christians 
agree that when the Apostle says, " This is 
the will of God even your sanctification," he 
has in view the entire deliverance of those 
who embrace the Gospel from the power 
and pollution of sin. Christ * gave himself " 
for the Church, " that he might sanctify and 
cleanse it"— " that he might present it to 
himself a glorious Church, not having spot, 
or wrinkle, or any such thing "— " that it 
should be holy and without blemish." This 
is the grand result which all the institutions 
18 



SANCTIFICATION, ETC. 19 

and influences of the Gospel have in view ; 
and, to entertain the apprehension of a failure 
here, would be to call in question the wisdom, 
the foresight, the veracity, and the faithful- 
ness of God. 

But the certainty of an event, and the time 
at which we are authorized to expect it, are 
two different things. And the question now 
arises, Are we authorized to believe that God 
will ever consummate the sanctification of 
his people within the limits of the present 
life ? Or, as the advocates of the doctrine 
of Perfection would prefer to have it stated, 

Is entire sanctification in this life to be 
regarded as an attainable state ? 

In entering upon the discussion of this 
question, it is all-important that the terms 
employed should be so defined that no con- 
fusion of ideas may exist as to their mean- 
ing. This is especially the case in reference 
to the word entire:— For, while the phrase 
' entire sanctification ' is one of frequent oc- 
currence in the writings of those who defend 
the doctrine which is now current under this 
name, it is not so clear that they themselves 



20 SANCTIFICATION 

have a definite notion of what they intend to 
express, or adhere as closely as they should 
to what the words legitimately imply. We 
see the evidence of this in the fact, that the 
phrase in question is used as convertible 
with others which are plainly not identical 
in their meaning, either as compared with it 
or with one another. One of these phrases 
is, c the consecration of our whole being to 
Christ. 5 And what does this imply, accord- 
ing to the true meaning and force of the 
words ? May we not be consecrated to 
Christ and yet be sanctified only in part ? Is 
not every Christian consecrated to him ? And 
(if his being is capable of being divided into 
parts) does not the consecration extend to 
one part as well as to another? Another 
phrase is, ' the subjection of all our powers 
and susceptibilities to the control of faith on 
the Son of God/ But may not faith on the 
Son of God control those who are still in a 
measure under the influence of sin ? Do not 
all who are recovered to " newness of life,' 5 
live by faith on the Son of God ? And are 
there any particular powers and susceptibili- 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 21 

ties of our nature to which the influence of 
this faith extends more than to others ? 

But, not to dwell upon the vagueness of 
conception and expression which is betrayed 
in these and other instances of the same kind 
which might be quoted, let us inquire what a 
state of ' entire sanctification ' ought fairly to 
be considered as implying. It is defined by 
a recent writer on Christian Perfection, as 
involving " perfect obedience to the moral 
law." It implies, he says, "a full and perfect 
discharge of our entire duty in respect to God 
and to all other beings." And, if this defini- 
tion were allowed to stand unqualified and 
unimpaired, we should desire no other. But 
it falls out, in immediate connexion with this 
language, that the demands of the law of 
God upon us depend upon our "circum- 
stances " — that " our powers are compara- 
tively weak " — and that what is required of 
> us is holiness, " corresponding with the reach 
of our powers." We are thus driven at 
once from what seemed to be safe and ten- 
able ground, and thrown upon the radical 
error, that the extent of our powers, fallen as 



22 SANCTIFICATION 

we are, is the ground and measure of our 
obligation. Of course the powers referred to 
are the moral powers of our nature — those 
powers which have been affected by sin — 
and which are " weak " in us, as compared 
with the higher and more perfect condition 
in which they existed in the primitive state 
and constitution of man. And the necessary 
consequence of this position is, that, the more 
we sin and thereby debilitate our powers, 
the more circumscribed does the sphere of our 
duty become — or, in other words, that we are 
excusable for not meeting the requisitions of 
the law of God just in proportion as we ad- 
vance in the career of rebellion against him. 
And, if there is either truth or safety in this 
position, then the shortest road to entire 
sanctification is the highway of sin. We 
have only to persevere in sin until our 
powers become so " weak " that we have no 
farther capability of obeying any part of the 
Divine law, and then we are sanctified to the 
full extent of our obligations ; because our 
"circumstances " are such that we are under 
no obligation whatever. 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 23 

But the law of God is not the sport of cir- 
cumstances, as this absurd and dangerous 
position would imply. Other things may be 
susceptible of modification or change ; but 
this rule of conduct, like its glorious author, 
is " the same yesterday, to-day and forever." 
It makes the same demands upon devils that 
it does upon holy angels, and the same de- 
mands upon fallen man that it did upon man 
in his primitive state. It is nothing else than 
a declaration of injunctions which are in ac- 
cordance with the perfections of God ; and, 
while these perfections continue to be what 
they are, he can accept of nothing as his law 
which is measured by a different standard or 
graduated by a different rule. And hence 
the care of the great Teacher to produce the 
impression upon the human mind that he 
had " not come to destroy the law." It was 
the same when he came into the world that 
it always had been ; and, instead of lowering 
the standard of obedience which it had erec- 
ted, he made it his business to renew and 
ratify it by the disclosure of still more affect- 
ing and solemn sanctions. As left by him, 



24 SANCTIFICATION 

it required men, in view of a clearer revela- 
tion of 'eternal judgment ' than had ever 
been made before, to love the Lord their 
God with all their heart, with all their soul, 
with all their mind, and with all their strength. 
To this law, then, we are amenable now. 
And, if there is any one among all our 
thoughts, words, or actions, which is not up 
to the standard of its requisitions — if we vary 
from them, in any one affection or emotion 
of soul — if we depart, for an instant, from the 
exercise of supreme affection for God, or un- 
adulterated charity towards our fellow men 
— if there is about us the least taint of any 
thing like pride, unbelief, ingratitude, hard- 
ness of heart, impatience, discontent, im- 
purity, earthly-mindedness, or covetousness 
— then we are not entirely sanctified. There 
is still a distance between us and the point 
at which we should aim : — Instead of con- 
gratulating ourselves that we have " already 
attained," we have reason to forget " those 
things which are behind " and to reach forth 
" unto those things which are before." 
By entire sanctification, then, in the only 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 25 

fair and consistent sense of the expression, 
we must understand perfect conformity both 
in letter and spirit to every part of that law 
which was originally written upon the heart 
of man — which was afterwards revealed to 
Israel on Mount Sinai — which is renewed 
and ratified in the teachings of the New Tes- 
tament — and not only established and ful- 
filled, but magnified and made honourable, 
in the mediation of Christ. 

And here I take occasion to say, that sanc- 
tification to the full extent of what this law 
requires, would be a state of holiness admit- 
ting of no progression or higher degrees. — 
Some, perhaps, may regard this as self-evi- 
dent, and therefore as unworthy of being 
repeated ; but there is a phase of the error 
we are about to consider which renders the 
remark important. Its friends insist that 
holiness may be perfect " in kind," or " in its 
nature," but be " finite in degree." And, as 
illustrating this distinction, we are referred 
to the difference between the holiness of a 
child, and the holiness of a man — between 

the holiness of a saint on earth, and the holi- 
3 



26 SANCTIFICATION 

ness of a seraph in heaven. The child and 
the man, the saint and the seraph, are all 
supposed to be free from sin — -they are en- 
tirely holy — but the degrees of holiness ap- 
pertaining to the man and the seraph are 
supposed to be greater than those appertain- 
ing to the child and the saint ; because the 
powers of the former exceed those of the lat- 
ter ! But let us not be deceived by the sound 
and confusion of words without knowledge. 
What has the strength or maturity of a crea- 
ture's powers to do with a mere question of 
fact as to the degree of his sinfulness or sanc- 
tification ! What are degrees of sin and holi- 
ness, but degrees of conformity or discon- 
formity to the law of God ? And, when this 
conformity is complete, what is there beyond 
it in which holiness can be supposed to con- 
sist ? Is a child who is perfectly sanctified 
less holy in degree than a man in the same 
state, merely because the latter has more 
bodily stature, greater intellectual strength, 
or more extensive knowledge ? What, in 
short, is holiness but freedom from sin ? — and 
how can a creature who is entirely free from 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 27 

sin be delivered from it in a still higher de- 
gree ? The Scriptures call upon us to be 
holy as God is holy, and perfect as our Father 
in heaven is perfect 3 but where would be 
the possibility of such conformity, if it were 
of the nature of holiness to rise and fall ac- 
cording to the powers of the being in whom 
it resides ? In respect to the reach of our 
powers, we shall never attain to an equality 
with God ; but in respect to holiness, if we 
are his, we shall be " like him" — as free from 
the indwelling and defilement of sin — and as 
entirely conformed to his image, in this re- 
spect as was the first man when he " became 
a living soul," or as the angels now are who 
kept their first estate. 

As to the meaning of the word " attaina- 
ble," when applied to the state described in 
the preceding remarks, we have no other pur- 
pose than to use it in its most obvious and 
popular sense — as importing the practica- 
bility of the thing to which it refers. An 
attainable thing, is something the attainment 
of which is practicable; an unattainable thing, 
is something the attainment of which is not 



28 SANCTIFICATION 

practicable. — And, on the question which 
relates to the practicability of attaining to a 
state of entire sanctification in this life, I feel 
compelled to join issue, not merely with the 
professed advocates of the doctrine, but also 
with some of those who have undertaken to 
shield the truth from the weapons which in 
this quarter have been directed against it. 

In a recent publication* — the venerable 
author of which argues in some respects with 
zeal and ability, as well as with the best 
spirit, against the doctrine of Perfection— I 
find it admitted, "that we may render to 
God the perfect obedience which he re- 
quires ;" that " we may render perfect obe- 
dience, if we apply ourselves to the work as 
we ought, and fully avail ourselves of the 
gracious provisions of the Gospel ;" "that a 
proper use of means will secure it 5" " that 
we shall obtain it, if we do what we ought ;" 
" and that, if we fail of obtaining it, truth 
will require us to say that we might have 
obtained it." The author, therefore, admits 
that Perfection in this life is attainable — 
* Woods' reply to Mahan. 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 29 

claims for this admission the common con- 
sent of evangelical christians — and reserves, 
as the only ground on which to make his de- 
fence, that perfect holiness never is attained 
in this world as a matter of fact. — Now this 
I cannot but regard, as virtually giving up 
the matter in dispute — as yielding in one form 
what is denied and opposed in another. For 
if men may render perfect obedience, by a 
proper use of means, where is the authority 
for saying they will never do it ? Who is 
authorized to affirm that what they can do 
they never will accomplish ? If it should be 
said that the difficulty lies in the want of 
will — that they might do it if they would — 
but that it never will be done because no 
one will ever be willing to do it — I reply 
that this is claiming a knowledge of the fu- 
ture to which no one has any right to pre- 
tend. The want of will which is supposed 
to have existed hitherto in the case of all, 
may hereafter be removed in the case of 
some ; — Nay, it is removed in the case of 
every individual now living who has a place 

in the family of God. " Thy people," says 
3* 



30 SANCTIFICATION 

the Psalmist, " shall be willing in the day of 
thy power." By the grace of God, this im- 
portant faculty of their mental and moral 
constitution is so renewed, that " to will is 
present" with them — they " would do good" 
— but "how to perform that which is good" 
is the difficulty which they find. There is 
something more in the way, therefore, than 
a mere want of will. But still, it matters 
not what it is, if it be something which may 
be surmounted. If it is, who shall say that 
no man is ever to arise who will surmount 
it, and go on to perfection ? Nay, where is 
the man now living, who may not expect, in 
the use of proper means, to do so himself? 
In short, is it not almost a contradiction in 
terms, to say, that a thing may be attained, 
and yet that no one need expect to attain it 
— that it lies within the reach of all, and yet 
that in attempting to reach it, there is infal- 
lible certainty that all will fail ? 

I regard it, then, as proper to say that 
entire sanctification in this life is not an attain- 
able state. My reasons for believing so 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 31 

may be arranged under the three following 
heads, 

I. It never has been attained. 

II. It is no where intimated in the word 
of God that it either may or will be. 

III. To suppose it, is to suppose that which 
would disagree with a variety of known and 
acknowledged facts. 

I. If a state of entire sanctification ever has 
been attained, it certainly falls to the lot of 
those who assert the fact, to prove it by the 
production of an instance. And where shall 
such an instance be found ? If found at all, 
it will doubtless be among those distinguished 
men, " of whom the world was not worthy," 
who though dead continue to speak in the 
biography and history of the sacred volume. 
But to which of their number shall we refer, 
as presenting the desired specimen? — It is 
not denied, that there are words and phrases 
employed in Scripture, which, if understood 
in the greatest latitude of meaning of which 
they are susceptible, would imply that not a 
few both of the Old and New Testament 
saints were without sin. These are such as 



32 SANCTIFICATION 

the words " perfect," " entire/' u complete," 
"blameless." It is said of Noah, Job, and 
others, that they were perfect — of all Chris- 
tians, that they are complete— of Zachariah 
and Elizabeth, that they walked in all the 
commandments and ordinances of the Lord 
blameless. But, it is granted on all hands, 
that these and other terms of similar import 
are often used in a qualified and restricted 
sense ; and therefore no decisive proof can 
be drawn from their appearance in this con- 
nection. They occur in the sacred writings, 
as they do in the language of ordinary con- 
versation, as signifying high degrees of ex- 
cellency, but not absolute perfection. When 
we say of an individual, " He is a perfect 
character," we are never suspected of in- 
tending to convey the idea that he is without 
a fault — that he is an angel as to his moral 
purity — that he is free from all error in 
opinion, and all imperfection in the discharge 
of duty. Instead of this, what we mean to 
express is, that he is a person of uniformly 
correct and praiseworthy deportment. His 
character is well balanced, and, in this sense, 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 33 

complete — his life is a well regulated life — 
there is no one respect in which he especially 
fails — and we therefore apply to him the 
idea of perfection, and point to him as an 
example to be imitated by others. 

Bearing this in mind, then, we pursue the 
inquiry — Where shall we find a specimen 
of entire sanctification among the eminent 
saints, who still live and speak in the bio- 
graphies of the sacred volume, whose memo- 
rial has not perished, and who " shall be in 
everlasting remembrance ?" Shall we find 
it in the man of the New Testament, who 
was " not a whit behind the very chiefest 
apostles," who " laboured more abundantly 
than they all," and who " resisted unto blood 
striving against sin ?" — I commence with the 
examination of his case ; because it seems 
impossible to doubt, in view of what is said 
of his life and character, that he was intended 
expressly to be an example to the rest of 
mankind. The manner of his conversion — 
the rank which he took as an apostle — his 
ardent zeal in the cause of his master — the 
great success which attended his labours — his 



34 SANCTIFICATION 

wonderful seasons of communion with God 
and eternal things — his rapture to the third 
heaven — and his fervent longings to depart 
and be with Christ — all testify that he was 
an extraordinary man. He was raised, by 
the grace of God, to a level above that which 
was occupied by others, that he might be 
justified in saying to them, " Be ye followers 
of me." Indeed he is the only being in 
human form — with the single exception of 
him who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and 
separate from sinners" — who, in any part of 
the Bible, assumes the responsibility of re- 
commending himself as an example to be 
imitated by others. And, under these cir- 
cumstances, we may well regard his attain- 
ments in the Christian life as attainments 
that never have been, and probably never 
will be, surpassed. This, I believe, is neither 
denied nor doubted by those who plead for 
perfection in this life ; and accordingly to 
prove that Paul was entirely sanctified, is 
one of the points to which their efforts are 
directed. Let us examine this point, with 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 35 

some attention, and see what the results 
will be. 

In the third chapter of his Epistle to the 
Philippians, the apostle gives the most ex- 
tended and minute account of himself, which 
his writings contain, as to the progress which 
he had made in his Christian course. He 
introduces himself to the notice of his readers, 
as having started in a "race," and as press- 
ing on towards the goal, with a view of 
securing the prize. He supposes the same 
circumstances to be present, which distin- 
guished the natural race, as run at the cele- 
bration of the ancient games. He supposes 
his course to be marked out and prescribed 
in the Gospel : — He regards Jesus Christ as 
having " apprehended," or laid hold on him, 
to draw him into this course, and to support 
and urge him forward in the contest : — He 
has his eye fixed on a mark, which he calls 
"the mark for the prize" — a goal which he 
must reach before the prize could be 
awarded :— and, in connexion with the 
mark, is the prize itself — the crown of life — 
the incorruptible crown, which every winner 



36 SANCTIFICATIGN 

in this race will receive, as the reward of 
his victory. I need not occupy the time of 
the reader, in showing that'." the mark" for 
this prize is perfection in holiness ; because 
this is the only mark, or termination of his % 
course, to which the Christian is allowed to 
have respect. This is the only goal, to which 
he is commanded to run— -the only point, at 
which he is permitted to stop— the only line, 
beyond which there is nothing more to be 
acquired or done. As a Christian, there is 
nothing else which he is bound to do, than 
to seek and obtain a state of entire conformity 
to the image and will of God, both in heart 
and in life. Having arrived at this state, 
his work is finished — he can run no farther — 
his obligations are all discharged— he has 
come up to the mark, and is ready for the 
prize. 

Let it now be considered, that, when this 
memorable passage was written, the Apostle 
had been running the race, which he de- 
scribes, for a period of something like thirty 
years. He was not far from the point, at 
which he afterwards said, " I have finished 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 37 

my course :" — In about three years more, he 
was to reach the goal, and obtain the crown 
of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous 
Judge had promised to give him. And, un- 
der these circumstances, what does he say 
concerning his progress ? " Not as though I 
had already attained, either were already 
perfect ; but I follow after" — " Brethren, I 
count not myself to have apprehended ; but 
this one thing I do, forgetting those things 
which are behind and reaching forth unto 
those things which are before, I press toward 
the mark." As if he had said — c After all 
the progress I have made in the divine life, 
there are other and still higher attainments 
before me — I pretend not to have reached 
the point, at which I am aiming, but only to 
be approaching it — all that I can claim is, 
that, instead of being satisfied with past 
efforts, I am intent upon still higher degrees 
of proficiency and success. 5 

Nor is this different from the evidence 
arising from all the other parts of his life and 
teaching. He never speaks of himself, in 
language which implies, that he was without 



38 SANCTIFICATION 

sin, or had obtained a complete victory over 
it ; but, very often, in such terms as show, 
that he was put to the necessity of a constant 
struggle against its temptations and defile- 
ments. He unites with the Hebrews in say- 
ing, "Let us lay aside every weight, and the 
sin which doth so easily beset us" — regard- 
ing himself, in common with them, as ex- 
posed to the influence of besetting sins. He 
records, in his second letter to the Corin- 
thians, that his tendency to spiritual pride 
was such, that there was given to him " a 
thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to 
buffet him." And who can believe, that the 
sharp contention between him and Barnabas 
would ever have occurred, if his mind and 
affections had been in a state of entire sanc- 
tification ? 

But the fullest evidence, on this subject, is 
to be found in the seventh chapter of his 
Epistle to the Romans, where his struggles 
with remaining sin are described at length. 
He there speaks expressly, of sin, as dwell- 
ing in him — of evil, as being present with 
him — of a law in his members, warring 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 39 

against the law of his mind, and bringing 
him into captivity to the law of sin, which 
was in his members, This testimony, in its 
terms, is so direct and conclusive, that the 
only way of evading its force, is to deny that 
the Apostle is here referring to himself as a 
christian at all ; and to take the ground, that, 
although he speaks in the present tense, he 
means to describe exercises of mind through 
which he had passed in former times — con- 
flicts with himself, under convictions of sin, 
which occurred before his conversion. This, 
accordingly, is the position, so far as I know, 
of all who contend for sinless perfection in 
this life. They insist upon the advantage to 
be derived from the example of Paul, and 
therefore argue, that, in this account of his 
spiritual conflicts, he speaks of himself as a 
sinner " under the law," and not as a be- 
liever " under grace." But, to say nothing 
of the violence which is done to the under- 
standing of the common reader, in supposing 
the apostle to describe past events in the use 
of the present tense — to say nothing of the 
absurdity of an unconverted sinner exclaim- 



40 SANCTIFICATION 

ing, as he does in this passage, " I delight in 
the law of God after the inward man" — to 
say nothing of the striking similarity between 
his language here and in other places in 
which he speaks, confessedly as a christian, 
of the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the 
spirit against the flesh — and to say nothing 
of the fitness of such expressions, to describe 
the actual exercises of the best and holiest 
men who have lived in succeeding ages ; all 
these considerations apart, it is enough to 
decide the question, to bring it into the light 
of historical facts, concerning which there 
can be no dispute. Let any candid inquirer 
look back upon the character and life of this 
distinguished individual, before his conver- 
sion ; and see whether, in the progress of his 
history, there is any place for such a scene 
as that which is here described — any interval 
of time, either long or short, during which he 
was the subject of these distressing conten- 
tions with the power of sin. In reference to 
the whole period of his former life, his testi- 
mony concerning himself is, that, " as touch- 
ing the righteousness which is in the law," 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 41 

he was " blameless :" He was not only " an 
Hebrew of the Hebrews," but a Pharisee of 
the Pharisees — an eminent individual among 
that class of persons, who supposed them- 
selves to be doing their whole duty, and who 
felt entitled to say, at the very altar of God : 
' We thank thee, that we are not as other 
men are P In his defence before Agrippa, 
he says : " My manner of life from my youth, 
which was at the first among mine own na- 
tion at Jerusalem, know all the Jews ; which 
knew me from the beginning, if they would 
testify, that, after the most straitest sect of 
our religion, I lived a Pharisee." Nor were 
his self-righteous feelings disturbed, even for 
a moment, by what he did immediately be- 
fore his conversion, in persecuting the Church 
of God. In all that fell out in the progress 
of that bloody scene, he was guided by what 
he verily thought within himself he ought to 
do. In short, it is as clear as any historical 
fact can possibly be, that up to the very mo- 
ment at which the light from heaven flashed 
upon him, on his way from Jerusalem to 

Damascus, he supposed himself to be an en- 
4 * 



42 SANCTIFICATION 

tirely sanctified person. He was then a Per- 
fectionist truly : He not only advocated the 
doctrine, but regarded himself as its brightest 
exemplification : He stood as the leader of 
the only sect of this description which dis- 
tinguished and disturbed the age in which he 
lived. How significantly does he allude to 
the self-complacency of that period, when he 
says, in the commencement of the passage 
of which we are now speaking, " I was alive 
without the law, once !" The "once," of 
which he speaks is, beyond a doubt, the time 
which preceded his conversion. During any 
part of that time, he saw no reason to find 
fault with his religious character and condi- 
tion. He was all that he wished to be, and 
his hopes of heaven were firm and bright. 
" But, when the commandment came," as it 
did at the time of his conversion, and brought 
to his mind a true knowledge of sin, and 
crucified his hopes of salvation by the deeds 
of the law, then he abandoned his favourite 
notion of perfection, as applied either to him- 
self or others, and became a mourner, for the 
rest of his days, under the consciousness and 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 43 

burden of indwelling sin. He now saw the 
spirituality of the law, as contrasted with the 
carnality of his affections : He saw the field 
of human obligation and duty to be " exceed- 
ing broad :" and he had a disposition to oc- 
cupy and improve it. But, while engaged 
in his best and most successful efforts, he 
found, in many instances and respects, that 
when he would do good evil was present 
with him ; that the good which he would, 
that he did not ; and that the evil which he 
would not, that he did ; and that all this was 
to be referred to the remaining corruption of 
a nature sanctified only in part; "now, it is 
no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in 
me." So that, instead of regarding himself 
as having nothing more to do in the warfare 
against sin, he could exclaim from the depths 
of his bitter experience, " wretched man 
that I am ! who shall deliver me from the 
body of this death ?" 

We pass, now, from the case of Paul, and 
extend our search after the specimen of en- 
tire sanctification, to some of the other emi- 
nent saints, who are referred to as examples 



44 SANCTIFICATION 

in the sacred volume. And if, after him, 
there are any among whom the object of this 
search is likely to be found, they must surely 
be such persons, — as Noah, concerning whom 
it is said, that he was a a just man and per- 
fect in his generations/' or Job, of whom the 
Spirit testifies, that there was " none like him 
in all the earth," — or Abraham, who sus- 
tained the relation of father to all the faith- 
ful, — or Moses, whom the Lord knew face 
to face ; or David, who was the man after 
God's own heart 5 or Zacharias and Eliza- 
beth, who "were both righteous," and of 
whom we have already spoken, as " walk- 
ing in all the commandments and ordinances 
of the Lord blameless." These are the per- 
sons, concerning whom it is said, " Be ye 
followers of them, who through faith and pa- 
tience inherit the promises." And yet, there 
is not one of their number, in regard to whom 
it is not expressly recorded, that their perfec- 
tion was a limited or qualified perfection. 
The perfection of Noah was stained, by the 
sin of intoxication ; and that of Job, by an 
imprecation upon the day of his birth ; Abra- 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 45 

ham was guilty of prevarication ; Moses 
spake unadvisedly with his lips ; David fell 
into the crimes of adultery and murder ; and 
Zacharias was struck dumb, because he be- 
lieved not the words of the Lord. It is in- 
deed an instructive and striking fact, that, 
when we find the record of eminent holiness 
in the Bible, we generally find over-against 
it the record of some instance of transgres- 
sion, as if to remind us, that, " there is not a 
just man upon earth that doeth good and 
sinneth not m " that this world is not the place 
for unalloyed and uncorrupted piety, and 
that those who pretend to it, arrogate to 
themselves, what the best days and the 
brightest ornaments of the Church of God 
have never produced. 

So far, then, as the scriptural models of 
faith and holy living are concerned, we think 
it beyond a doubt, that they present no 
example of entire sanctification. And, having 
failed to find such an example among these 
models, it is scarcely worth while to pursue 
the inquiry farther. It may not be unimpor- 
tant, however, to remark in general terms, 



46 SANCTIFICATION 

that, in relation to entire sanctification, con- 
sidered as a practical matter, there is a strik- 
ing coincidence in the experience and views 
of the most eminent saints in every age. 
Take up the diary of any one, whom we all 
acknowledge to have been pre-eminent in 
holiness ; and, in turning over its pages, you 
will find, that, as the piety of the individual 
rises, his sense of remaining sin becomes 
deeper and more afflicting. The seasons of 
his closet communion with God, are the sea- 
sons in which he sees most in himself to be 
repented of and subdued. The nearer he 
comes to the throne, the lower he lies in con- 
fession and self-abasement. It is not when 
he hears of God by the hearing of the ear, 
but when his eye seeth Him, that he abhors 
himself and repents in dust and in ashes. In 
short, it is when his devotion burns with the 
brightest and purest flame, that he has the 
clearest insight into the depravity of his own 
nature : So that, while he is sensible of an 
increase of grace, he is equally sensible that 
more grace is still needed to carry on and com- 
plete his deliverance from sin. 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 47 

As the result, then, of this inquiry into the 
facts of the case, it is fair to infer, that a state 
of entire sanctification in this life has never 
been attained. This I acknowledge, how- 
ever, does not of itself settle the question as 
to whether it may be attained. The proof, 
thus far, is merely presumptive. We infer 
that it may not, from the fact, that, thus far, 
it has not been, without touching the ques- 
tion of probability, as to the future. But we 
proceed, now, to remark 

II. That while a state of entire sanctifica- 
tion in this life never has been attained, it is 
na where declared or intimated in the word 
of God, in any way, that it either may or will 
be. 

And here, I take occasion to say, as under 
the former particular : If there is an intima- 
tion to this effect in the Bible, either direct 
or implied, it behoves those who make the 
assertion to prove it by the production of an 
instance. No doubt they do produce, what 
they themselves regard as satisfactory ; but 
let us examine the ground of their claim to 



48 SANCTIFICATION 

success in this department, with some degree 
of particularity and care. 

I have already said, that no stress is to be 
laid, in this discussion, on the mere use of 
the words " perfect," " complete," and others 
of similar character ; because the latitude of 
meaning to be assigned to such terms, is con- 
fessedly various, according to the connexion 
in which they are found. If words and 
phrases, out of their connexion, were admit- 
ted as proof, it would be easy, not only to 
establish the doctrine of sinless perfection, 
considered as an attainable state, but also to 
show that all Christians are perfect, and must 
be so from the necessity of the case. For 
what can be plainer than the language of the 
Apostle John, when he says, " whosoever is 
born of God doth not commit sin," — nay 
more, " his seed remaineth in him and he 
cannot sin, because he is born of God ?" If 
this passage, taken by itself, were susceptible 
of any meaning, it would be, that regenera- 
tion draws after it, not merely the probabi- 
lity, but the necessity of entire freedom from 
sin. And, as none would be willing to re- 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 49 

ceive this interpretation, we must all appre- 
ciate the importance of understanding words 
and phrases in their connexion, and of ascer- 
taining the meaning of passages, by compar- 
ing scripture with scripture, before we are 
hasty in deciding upon the instruction which 
they are intended to convey. 

It must be conceded, however, that the 
advocates of the error we are now opposing, 
do not depend much upon proof derived from 
express declarations of scripture. Their mode 
of reaching what the scriptures are supposed 
to teach, is rather by inference. And the 
main facts and circumstances, from which the 
inference is drawn, we proceed to notice. 

It is said that God commands us to be 
perfect ; and that this he would not do, unless 
perfection in this life were attainable, — and 
attainable, at any time, at which the com- 
mand exists. But, admitting the premise, in 
this argument, does the conclusion follow ? 
God, as we have seen, can require nothing 
less than perfection ; because nothing else 
would answer to the demands of his im- 
mutable law. He can make no abatement 
5 



50 SANCTIFICATION 

here, on account of any changes which occur 
in our condition ; for this would be to relin- 
quish his rights as moral Governor, and make 
sin and holiness matters of mere accident and 
circumstance. We, in common with all 
rational and moral creatures, are therefore 
required to yield the perfect obedience which 
his law demands. But to say, that, by us 
in our fallen state, such perfection may at 
any moment be attained; to say that a 
creature, who is radically imperfect, whose 
moral constitution is diseased, defiled, and 
debilitated by sin, who is "without strength" 
and "compassed with infirmity," whose 
" whole head is sick and whose whole heart 
is faint," and in whom " there is no sound- 
ness from the sole of the foot even unto the 
head, but wounds and bruises and putrifying 
sores;" to say that such a creature may 
start, at will, from his death in trespasses 
and sins, into a state of immaculate purity, 
is to utter what a reflecting person can hardly 
be supposed to believe. And yet this is the 
absurdity to which the argument in question 
would conduct us. It may be briefly stated, 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 51 

in the following manner : God commands us, 
now and at all times, to be perfect — but he 
would not command that, which may not be 
done — therefore perfection is, to us, at this 
moment, an attainable state. To substitute 
some future day, for the present moment, 
might seem to abate the absurdity a little; 
but it would not essentially alter its nature. 
The reasoning is, that the existence of a com- 
mand implies the practicability of the thing 
commanded ; and, as there is no time at 
which the command to be perfect does not 
exist, so there is no time at which an indi- 
vidual may not yield obedience to the last 
tittle of what it requires. 

If it should be said, that, although we can- 
not rise to a state of perfect obedience of 
ourselves, yet, if we ask it aright, God will 
bestow the blessing upon us ; I answer, that 
this must depend altogether upon what, in 
relation to this point, he has promised to do. 
All that he has promised, he will undoubtedly 
perform 5 and, if there is a passage in the 
Bible which contains the promise of entire 
sanctification in this life, I acknowledge that 



52 SANCTIFICATION 

the whole controversy is thereby decided. 
But where is such a passage to be found ? 
As an example of the class of passages on 
which the main reliance is placed, we are 
referred to the language of God by the pro- 
phet Ezekiel, when he says : " Then will I 
sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall 
be clean ; from ail your iilthiness and from 
all your idols will I cleanse you," Ezek. 
xxxvi. 25. We are also referred to Deut. 
xxx. 6 : " And the Lord thy God will cir- 
cumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, 
to love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, 
and with all thy soul ;" and to Jer. 1. 20 : 
" In those days, and at that time, saith the 
Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought 
for, and there shall be none, and the sins of 
Judah, and they shall not be found." 

On these passages, I remark, in the first 
place, that the bare circumstance of going so 
far back for the main proof, on such a point 
as this, is of itself suspicious. I have often 
observed, that new forms of error are apt to 
shun the light of the New Testament, and 
establish themselves behind words and 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 53 

phrases, which occur in the more enigmati- 
cal, and therefore doubtful language of the 
Old. If there are promises of entire sancti- 
fication in this life, in any part of the Bible, 
where may we expect to find them in the 
greatest number and variety ? Is it in the 
prophetic and figurative language of the 
prophets ? Or is it in the plainer statements 
of our Saviour and his apostles ? Is not the 
doctrine, in the view of its friends, an especial 
development and blessing of the New Cove- 
nant ? And is it not, under the effusion of 
the Spirit " in the latter days," that they 
expect it to be the most extensively realized ? 
In short, if it filled the eyes of those who 
lived under a darker dispensation, may we 
not expect to hear of it, very often, and with' 
out a figure, from those who could say, "the 
darkness is past, and the true light now 
shineth ?" Yet, in referring to a list of pro- 
mises, drawn by the hand of a professed ad- 
vocate of the doctrine, I find, out of five 
passages produced, four from the prophetic 
parts of the Old Testament, and only one 

from the New, while the one from the New 

5# 



54 SANCTIFICATION 

does not contain a promise, but only a prayer, 
which is supposed to involve a promise. I 
submit to the candid reader, whether this is 
not a virtual acknowledgment, that promises 
of the kind referred to are few in number 
and difficult to be found. 

But, in the second place, if we grant, that 
the passages quoted above do relate to all 
believers, and are to be understood in the 
most unrestricted sense, as applicable to 
their condition in the present life, then they 
will prove nothing, by proving too much. 
The promises which they contain, it will be 
seen, are absolute in their terms, and general 
as to the persons to whom they are addressed. 
The veracity of the Promiser is pledged for 
their fulfilment ; and what they contemplate 
in relation to one, they contemplate in rela- 
tion to all. But that all Israel, in the spiritual 
sense, are cleansed from all their filthiness 
and from all their idols in the present life, is 
no more admitted by the friends of the error, 
on which we are now remarking, than by 
those who oppose it. We must either ac- 
knowledge, therefore, that the promises have 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 55 

failed, and that God is unfaithful, or concede 
that sinless perfection in this world is not 
the precise thing to which these promises 
refer. 

In the third place, as to the true sense of 
the passages in question, it is clearly to this 
amount, that sanctification is one of the 
great blessings of the " new covenant," into 
which God was to enter with the seed of 
Israel and Judah, and which is none other 
than the covenant of grace ; that he has 
engaged to confer this blessing upon all with 
whom this covenant is established; and that 
he will bestow it, in no imperfect or partial 
measure, but fully and perfectly ; to such a 
degree, that, when their sins are sought for, 
they shall not be found. In this view, the 
promises which they contain, are " exceed- 
ing great and precious"; they secure to 
every believer, beyond all peradventure or 
possibility of failure, a perfect deliverance 
from the existence and pollution of sin. But, 
as to the time, at which this deliverance is 
to be consummated, they contain no specifi- 
cation, and express no opinion. They are 



56 SANCTIFICATION 

just as consistent with the views of those, 
who suppose that sanctification is never 
entire in the present life, as with the views 
of those who believe that it is. Nor are 
there any promises in the Bible, relating to „ 
this subject, to which the same remark will 
not apply. There are many, indeed, which 
contemplate the perfect holiness of believers, 
but it is of believers in common, and without 
any limitation to this world as the time and 
place. The work is begun here, and carried 
on, under different circumstances, as well as 
with various degrees of rapidity. Ere long 
it will be completed ; but that any are to 
realize this completion, during the present 
life, is more than any promise of God has 
authorized us to expect. 

But, again ; it is said, that the attainable- 
ness of the state in question may be inferred, 
from the abundant provision, which is made 
in the Gospel, for the sanctification of those 
who embrace it. The provision, it is argued, 
is " perfect and entire, wanting nothing f* 
and, this being the case, it is supposed, that 
a proper use of such provision will infallibly 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 57 

lead to the desired result. But what are we 
to understand here by the word provision ? 
There are only two things, in relation to 
sanctification, to which it can be supposed to 
refer ; and these are, the agent who does the 
work, and the means which are employed in 
carrying it on. Both these are necessary, 
but in different senses. The agent by whose 
efficiency the work is commenced, carried 
on, and completed, is necessary in the abso- 
lute sense ; because, without such an agent, 
it could not be done. But means are neces- 
sary, only as a part of the prescribed and 
appointed plan. We could conceive of the 
work, as done without them ; but they are 
instituted, as the way in which we are to 
expect it, under ordinary circumstances, to be 
performed. Now, so far as the provision in 
question is a mere provision of means, it will 
not be contended, that any thing certain can 
be inferred, as to the progress of the work, 
and the time of its completion. The means 
may exist, and be known, without being ap- 
plied in such a way as to secure the end ; 
they are nothing in themselves, and become 



58 SANCTIFICATION 

effectual, only as they are overruled and 
blessed. And again, if the provision be sup- 
posed to refer to the efficient Agent in sanc- 
tification, then we say, that, while the provi- 
sion of the Gospel is abundant — while the 
Holy Spirit, who is sent into the world for 
this purpose, is fully able to accomplish the 
work — it is no legitimate inference from this 
to affirm, that he will bring it to perfection 
during the present life. Whether he will or 
not, must depend altogether upon himself. 
And therefore the question returns : Has he 
promised in any part of his word, that he 
will bring it to maturity in the present state? 
That no such promise can be found, we have 
already shown. And, until something to this 
effect is produced, no argument, founded on 
the provisions of the Gospel, can be regarded 
as worthy of farther notice. 

Another argument for entire sanctification 
in this life, is attempted to be derived from 
the prayers, which are recorded in Scrip- 
ture, — prayers in which, such a state is evi- 
dently the matter of petition — and which are 
supposed to be proper for all Christians, 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 59 

when praying either for themselves or others. 
It is said, for instance, that Epaphras prayed, 
on behalf of the Colossians, that they might 
" stand perfect and complete in all the will 
of God ;" that Paul prayed for the Hebrews, 
that the great Shepherd of the sheep, through 
the blood of the everlasting covenant, would 
make them " perfect in every good work to 
do his will ;" that the same apostle said, in 
his supplications for the Thessalonians, " the 
very God of peace sanctify you wholly : and 
I pray God your whole spirit and soul and 
body be preserved blameless unto the coming 
of our Lord Jesus Christ," and that such 
prayers would not have been offered by such 
men, unless the thing which they asked had 
been something which they expected to 
receive. 

But, in this statement of the case, while 
there is much that is true, as well as plausi- 
ble, there is something also which is radically 
fallacious. In reference to the words " per- 
fect" and " complete," as occurring in these 
prayers, I might repeat the remark already 
made, that no decisive proof can be derived 



60 SANCTIFICATION 

from them. But, let it now be granted, that 
prayers for perfection in holiness are scrip- 
tural and proper. That they are so, all 
evangelical Christians admit. It is admitted, 
too, that all such prayers, if offered in sin- 
cerity will be answered. But the question 
to be determined is, when will they be an- 
swered ? Will the answer come at the very 
moment, at which the prayer is offered ? will 
it come, in the course of a day ? or in the 
progress of a year ? will it come, in all its 
fulness, at any other specified or particular 
time ? or will it come, partly at one time and 
partly at another — by little and little — like 
the advance of vegetation — like the going 
forth of the morning — like the coming of the 
rain? The truth is, that nothing is more 
common, than for God to allow long spaces 
to intervene, between the offering of accept- 
able prayers and the bestowment of the an- 
swer. How long did the Patriarchs and Pro- 
phets pray for the coming of the Messiah, 
before the answer was received ? And, since 
the opening of the Christian dispensation, as 
well as before, how many true and fervent 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 61 

prayers have been offered for the coming of 
the Millenium, which is still in prospect ? 
These prayers are heard, and will be an- 
swered. But the plans of God are not like 
the plans of men. His views are more com- 
prehensive ; He moves in a wider sphere ; 
and long periods of time are occupied in 
bringing his works to maturity. But what 
appears to us to be of moment, here, is no- 
thing to him. " One day is with the Lord as 
a thousand years, and a thousand years as 
one day." He will answer the prayers of 
his people, in his own time ; but he will an- 
swer them in such a way, as to make them 
know, that he is a sovereign in the selection 
of the time, as well as in the bestowment of 
the gift. In their present experience, in re- 
lation to this point, there is great variety. 
There are some cases, in which he confers 
blessings upon them before they pray ; there 
are others, in which he answers them, at the 
very time, at which they are speaking ; there 
are others, again, in which he declines giving 
them what they ask, and bestows upon them 
something else, which is far better ; and there 



62 SANCTIFICATION 

are still others, in which he begins to answer 
them at once, but occupies a considerable 
portion of time in doing all that he intends. 
The last of these, is the course which he is 
now pursuing, in respect to the prayers of 
true Christians for the universal diffusion of 
the Gospel. He has begun to answer them ; 
but " the set time" for answering them fully, 
has not yet arrived. And thus it is, in re- 
spect to their prayers for entire holiness, as 
offered either for themselves or others. They 
are not only heard, but their desires are ful- 
filled in part. The work has been com- 
menced and is going forward. The period 
of the fulfilment is in progress ; but " the 
time of the end" is yet to come. They are 
enabled, by the grace of God, more and more 
to die unto sin and live unto righteousness. 
And, ere long, their triumph over sin and its 
influences will be complete. But, that this 
will occur, the next moment, during the next 
day, in the course of a year, or at any point 
short of the termination of the present life, 
we are no where authorized to affirm. 
If the minds of any should still labour, in 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 63 

view of the very strong language, which is 
used by Paul in his prayer for the Thessa- 
lonians, let them attend for a moment to a 
critical examination of its meaning. It re- 
presents him, as asking, not only that God 
would sanctify them wholly, but that their 
whole soul, body, and spirit might be pre- 
served blameless unto the coming of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. It is not to be doubted, 
that this language is susceptible of being so 
interpreted as to make it express his desire, 
that they might, in the first place, be brought 
into a state of perfect sanctification, and then 
be kept in that state until the coming of the 
Saviour to remove them at death. But the 
difficulty attending this interpretation, to the 
advocate of Perfection, is, that, if admitted to 
be true, it proves too much. In words im- 
mediately following the prayer, the Apostle 
adds, " Faithful is he that calleth you, who 
also will do it." This was an absolute and 
unconditional promise, in which the faith- 
fulness of God was pledged, in the most 
formal and solemn manner, for the bestow- 
ment of what the prayer contemplated upon 



64 SANCTIFICATION 

all those on whose behalf it was offered. 
" Faithful is he that calleth you, who also 
will do it." There could be no failure, in 
the case of any one of their number whom 
God had effectually called ; so that if sinless 
perfection in this world was the thing which 
the prayer contemplated, it follows that this 
perfection was attained by all the true fol- 
lowers of Christ in Thessalonica, — which is 
more than the advocates of the doctrine them- 
selves would be willing to admit. 

The truth undoubtedly is, that, while the 
Apostle prays, in the first clause of this pas- 
sage, for the entire sanctification of those to 
whom he wrote, without any limitation as 
to time, he prays, in the second clause, for 
their preservation in a state of justification, 
up to a point of time which he specifies. He 
uses the word " blameless," not as opposed 
to a state of pollution but as opposed to a 
state of condemnation. Their whole soul 
and body and spirit, before their conversion, 
had been under the condemning sentence of 
the divine law. But, having embraced the 
Gospel, they were pardoned — their liability 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 65 

to punishment was removed — they had pass- 
ed, in this sense, from death unto life. And 
now, while he prays that their sanctification 
may be carried on and completed, he also 
prays that they may be kept in their par- 
doned and justified state until the arrival of 
the great day of acquittal — when they are 
to be brought into the presence of the uni- 
versal Judge, to be openly accepted and ac- 
knowledged as his, and invited to take pos- 
session of the kingdom prepared for them 
from the foundation of the world. 

We cannot accept it as true, therefore, that 
the attainableness of entire sanctification can 
be fairly inferred, either from the commands, 
the promises, the provisions of the Gospel, 
or from any of the prayers which are there 
recorded. And, if the Bible uses language, 
in any other relation, from which it is pre- 
tended that such an inference may be drawn, 
I am not aware of its existence. I pass, 
therefore, to shew, 

III. That to suppose the state in question 
to be attainable, would be to suppose that, 
6* 



66 SANCTIFICATION 

which would disagree with a variety of 
known and acknowledged facts. 

1. It is a fact, that the strongest represen- 
tation of Christian experience and practice, 
which are found in the Bible, are those which 
expressly exclude the notion of sinless per- 
fection in this life, and include the idea of an 
onward movement to still higher degrees of 
proficiency and success. You may look at 
the Christian, at any point, at which these re- 
presentations place him, and you will find, 
that, instead of having arrived at the mark, 
he is only pressing towards it ; he is not 
standing still, but advancing ; his attitude and 
motions are those of one, who is forgetting 
things which are behind and reaching forth 
to those which are still before. 

Take, in illustration of this thought, the 
similitudes employed by our Saviour, to 
shadow forth the advancement of the king- 
dom of God, both in the world in general, 
and in the hearts of believers in particular. 
It is like " a grain of mustard-seed," which, 
when planted, is the smallest of all seeds ; 
but which increases, by an onward growth, 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 67 

until it becomes so large as to accommodate 
the birds of the air with nests. Again, " it 
is like leaven, which a woman took and hid 
in three measures of meal," and which dif- 
fused its influence, by a gradual progress, 
from one part of the general mass to another, 
until the whole was leavened. And, once 
more, it is like any of the ordinary seeds, 
which are cast into the ground, with a view 
to the raising of a crop. They bring forth, 
not by an instantaneous, or very speedy pro- 
duction, but " first the blade, then the ear, 
and, after that, the full corn in the ear." 
And, in regard to this latter similitude, it is 
especially in point to remark, that the Author 
of the parable interposes the declaration, that, 
" when fruit is brought forth, immediately 
the husbandman putteth in the sickle, be- 
cause the harvest is come." There is no 
time permitted to elapse, between the ripen- 
ing and the ingathering of the fruit. The 
one event follows the other, not only in the 
order of nature, but without an interval. And 
thus, the great Teacher would have us to 
understand, it will ever be in the kingdom of 



63 SANCTIFICATION 

grace. When the plants of righteousness 
have grown to maturity, they will no longer 
be permitted to stand in the open field of the 
present world. The purpose of their growth, 
here, will then be answered ; and, without 
any farther delay, they will be gathered into 
the garner of God. 

But, there are other figurative representa- 
tions of the Christian life, than those which 
were employed by our Saviour. " The path 
of the just," says Solomon, " is as the shin- 
ing light, which shineth more and more unto 
the perfect day." And what does this imply, 
but a continued progression, up to the very 
time at which the perfect day is ushered in ? 
But, surely, " the perfect day " is not reali- 
zed in this world of comparative darkness 
and misery ! It is certainly, not here, that 
the shades are all dispersed, and the full tide 
of Divine light and glory is poured upon the 
soul ! For the consummation, intended by 
this image, we must wait, until we reach the 
threshold of eternity — until we have passed 
the Jordan of death — until we have fallen 
asleep, as to this world, and opened our eyes 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 69 

upon the brighter visions of another. And, 
if this is so, it follows, that, up to the mo- 
ment of this important change, the light of 
our Christian course is expected to shine with 
increasing brightness: — There is no point at 
which we are permitted to stop — no measure 
of attainment beyond which we are not ex- 
pected to go. 

The same idea attaches to the figures of 
Christian experience, which are drawn from 
the ideas of a warfare, a race, a pilgrimage. 
These are all constructed upon the supposi- 
tion of an onward movement. And, where 
the line of this movement terminates, there 
the Christian life ends and the results are ex- 
hibited. As soon as the warfare terminates 
in victory over the last enemy, the victor's 
crown is awarded and placed upon his head; 
as soon as the racer reaches the goal, or comes 
up to the mark, he receives the prize 5 and, 
as soon as the pilgrim has passed over the 
last stage of his journey, his fatigues are all 
over, and he enters upon his rest. The very 
nature of the similitudes is such, as to forbid 
the supposition, that when the christian has 



70 SANCTIFICATION 

arrived at perfection, he will be kept any 
longer from the possession and enjoyment of 
his reward. 

And if, from the figurative language of 
the Bible, we go to its plainer and more 
simple statements, what do we hear? Do 
we hear the note of congratulation at having 
"already attained," or at being "already 
perfect"? Are Christians ever addressed as 
those who may be supposed to have received 
the blessing of entire sanctification ? Are 
they invited, to turn around and rejoice over 
the dying struggles of their last enemy, and 
to lay aside their armour, because the war 
is ended ? Or are their ears saluted, by the 
never-ceasing return of exhortations and 
commands, to be up and doing, to walk cir- 
cumspectly, to redeem the time, to work out 
their salvation with fear and . trembling, to 
grow in grace, to follow holiness, and to 
abound more and more in love and good 
works? There is no degree of proficiency, 
in the divine life, beyond which these injunc- 
tions are not reiterated and pressed. They 
are addressed, in common, to the whole 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 71 

Christian family. And, if there be a class of 
persons, to whom they do not apply, they 
are a class, to whom no place is assigned in 
the sacred writings; with whom inspired 
men had formed no acquaintance; and to 
whom none of their counsels and exhorta- 
tions were directed. 

2. It is a fact that there is no degree of 
piety or holy living, in this world, beyond 
which Christians are exempted from afflic- 
tions and trials ; such exemption is neither 
contemplated in the word of God, nor realized 
in actual experience ; and yet, nothing short 
of this, would be suitable to a state of entire 
sanctification. 

The only revealed purpose of affliction, in 
the case of believers, is to promote their 
sanctification. The Lord " doth not afflict 
willingly, or grieve the children of men," 
but " for our profit, that we might be par- 
takers of his holiness." And, as to the uni- 
versal and unceasing application of this 
means of discipline, an apostle remarks — 
" Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and 
scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If 



72 SANCTIFICATION 

ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you 
as with sons 5 for what son is he, whom the 
father chasteneth not ? But if ye be without 
chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then 
are ye bastards and not sons." " As many 
as I love," says the exalted Saviour, " I re- 
buke and chasten." 

And who doubts, that the fact, as thus 
stated, is a fair representation of what occurs 
in the life of every Christian, up to the mo- 
ment of his release from the body ? For 
where is the " son" to be found whom the 
father " chasteneth not," and whom he does 
not continue to chasten as long as he lives? 
We have never seen him, in our day ; nor is 
there any allusion to him, in the records of 
the past. " We, that are in this tabernacle, 
do groan, being burdened" — -" We, who 
have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we 
ourselves, groan within ourselves." All be- 
lievers, without regard to the degrees of 
their sanctification, are thus affected. They 
groan under the pressure, which is still upon 
them in the trial of their faith. " Our light 
affliction," is a phrase which they have fre- 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 73 

quent occasion to pronounce ; " the sufferings 
of this present time," are things with which 
they have a daily and an intimate acquaint- 
ance. 

Here, then, is a chain of truths, insepara- 
bly connected ; and, by necessity, leading to 
the conclusion, that there is no sinless per- 
fection in the present world. All Christians 
are subjected, while here, to chastisements ; — 
All chastisements, are from the hand of 
God; — The only present object which God 
has in view, in chastising his people, is to 
make them more holy ; — He cannot be sup- 
posed to chastise them "willingly," or with- 
out a reason ; — And hence it follows, that 
none of their number are so holy as to be 
beyond the necessity of a still higher degree 
of sanctification. The argument is perfect, 
and the conclusion so legitimate, that it 
would seem impossible for a candid mind to 
evade it, or be insensible to its force. We 
must admit that afflictions are not from God ; 
or that he has some other object in view, in 
afflicting his people, than to increase their 
holiness ; or else acknowledge, that they are 



74 SANCTIFICATION 

never perfectly sanctified during " the time 
of their sojourning here." 

Besides : there is an incongruity, in the 
very thought, of a perfectly sinless being re- 
maining in a state of suffering. All suffering, 
of every kind, is the associate of sin. If sin 
had not entered the world, there would have 
been no affliction. In heaven, there will be 
no suffering, because there will be no sin. 
In hell, all will be misery, because sin will 
reign, without interruption or restraint. And 
why should this connexion between sin and 
suffering on the one hand, and holiness and 
happiness on the other, which is so conspicu- 
ous every where else, be dispensed with, in 
the present experience of the people of God ? 
If they are without sin, does not consistency 
seem to require, that they should be exempted 
from the evils which sin produces ? If the 
heavenly state is begun in them, as to its 
holiness, why not, also, as to its happiness ? 
If all the stains, which sin had attached to 
their nature, have been washed away, is it 
not a wrong representation of their character, 
to present them, as living still upon "the 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 75 

bread of adversity and the water of afflic- 
tion"? 

3. It is a fact, that all Christians are di- 
rected to use the means of sanctification, as 
long as they live ; there is no degree of holi- 
ness, in this life, supposed, in the word of 
God, to be attainable, beyond which, they 
are represented as needless. 

This will appear, if we consider what the 
means of sanctification are, and attend to the 
style and obvious import of those parts of 
Scripture, in which their use is enjoined. 
They are such as private and social prayer ; 
the reading of the word of God, and of the 
writings of good and gifted men, which have 
a tendency to illustrate and apply its truths ; 
attendance upon the preaching of the Gos- 
pel, and the other public ordinances of reli- 
gion ; Christian fellowship and counsel, to- 
gether with mutual watchfulness, admonition, 
and reproof. There are others, indeed, 
which might be mentioned ; for there is no- 
thing, to which the Christian stands related, 
which is not overruled as the means of his 
advancement in holiness. But I specify 



76 SANCTIFICATION 

these, because they are means in the direct 
and exclusive sense. To promote our sancti- 
fication, is the great and main object which 
they have in view. 

Now what is the language, in which the 
Scriptures prescribe and enjoin the use of 
these means, considered as to the extent of its 
application ? Is it guarded by any restric- 
tions or limitations, as if there might be some 
to whom it could not apply ? In directing 
Christians, to meditate and pray, to search 
the scriptures, and attend upon the ministry 
of the word and ordinances, does it contem- 
plate a point of time, or a degree of piety, at 
which these things will cease to be necessary 
or beneficial ? Does it ever allude to a highly 
favored number, either great or small, who 
may stand erect, and thank God that they 
are not as others, while the imperfect around 
them are bowing the knee, in penitence, con- 
fession, and supplication ? Does it give per- 
mission to some, to stay away from the house 
of God, while others frequent it, or to turn 
their backs upon the table of the Lord, while 
others are gathering around it, to obtain re- 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 77 

freshment and strength ? That any such dis- 
tinction is recognized in Scripture, I am well 
aware, is neither pretended nor supposed. It 
is granted, on all hands, that what is said in 
reference to the means of growth in grace, is 
said to all believers, without distinction. 
And, from this admitted fact, we infer, that 
the sanctification of every one is less than 
perfect. For why use the means, if the end 
is already obtained ? Why wait upon God, 
and ask him to renew our strength, if we 
have already arrived at the measure of the 
stature of perfect men ? Why pray for the 
Holy Spirit, if the work of the Spirit, in us, 
is already completed ? And why look into 
the glass of the written, or preached word, if 
we are already changed into the image, which 
it reflects, and have put on the highest de- 
gree of the glory, which that image exhibits ? 
In view of the Christian life, considered as 
a warfare, believers are exhorted, in com- 
mon, to "fight the good fight of faith" — to 
" put on the whole armour of God"— -to " be 
sober" — to "stand fast" and quit themselves 

like men — having their "loins girt about 

7 * 



78 SANCTIFICATION 

with truth" — their " feet shod with the pre- 
paration of the Gospel of peace" — and their 
whole persons guarded, by " the helmet of 
salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which 
is the word of God." And do these sound 
like addresses to an army, some of whom 
have fought all their battles, have conquered 
all their enemies, have placed their feet upon 
the neck of their last foe, and are ready to 
begin the celebration of the victory ? Or, do 
they proceed upon the supposition, that the 
war is still in progress — that the armour is 
still needed — and, that other triumphs over 
the foe, are still to be sought ? 

4. It is a fact, that, in the present world, 
there are none who either do or can arrive 
at a perfect knowledge of the truth ; and as 
sanctification is through the truth, it is not 
easy to see, under these circumstances, how 
any can be perfectly holy. 

I know, indeed, that the Spirit of God is 
promised, as a guide into all truth ; and, so 
far as all revealed truth is concerned, this 
promise is sure, and all Christians have rea- 
son to pray for its fulfilment, in faith and 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 79 

hope. But, there are other views of truth, 
than those which are yet revealed, which are 
to have an effect upon our spiritual condition. 
We know as much now, as is necessary to 
answer the purposes of God, in reference to 
our existence here; and, doubtless, if he had 
contemplated our perfect conformity to his 
image in this world, he would have revealed 
to us still more. But the present is, to us, 
in all respects, an imperfect state ; — He has 
not designed it to be otherwise ; — His gra- 
cious method of restoring us to himself, takes 
effect here, but is not consummated ; — what 
we enjoy now, is " the first fruits" — " the 
harvest" is still in prospect. In short, his 
plan requires, that earth and heaven, instead 
of meeting and blending, should be kept far 
distant from each other, in our conceptions. 
And this is not more true, in any respect, 
than in reference to the extent of our know- 
ledge. In the comparisons of earth with 
heaven, which are drawn in scripture, there 
is great prominence given to this considera- 
tion ; — here, " we know in part" — " we pro- 
phecy in part" — " we see, through a glass, 



80 SANCTIFICATION 

darkly" — " What I do," said the Saviour, 
" thou knowest not now." But, in heaven, 
" that, which is perfect," will have come — 
" that, which is in part, shall be done away" 
— we shall see, <•' face to face," and know, 
even as, also, we are known. Earth is a 
place of comparative obscurity; but, of 
heaven, it is said — " there shall be no night 
there." 

And, that the perfection of our knowledge, 
in heaven, will have some connexion with 
our perfect conformity to the image of God, 
is, not obscurely, intimated, by an apostle, 
when he says, " we shall be like him, for we 
shall see him as he is." The whole force 
of this passage depends upon the supposition, 
that our likeness to him, in this world, is not 
complete. It is a passage, too, which is ap- 
plicable to all believers, without distinction. 
It states a general fact, which is to be rea- 
lized in the experience of every Christian, 
when he ceases to walk by faith, and enters 
the region of sight. He will, then, have a 
knowledge of God and eternal things, which 
will be the knowledge of an eye-witness, and 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 81 

which will altogether surpass the measure 
and accuracy of his information here. And 
this knowledge will have an assimilating 
effect — it will produce a likeness between 
him and the Divine nature. And what is 
this, but to say, in other language, that it will 
have the effect of completing his sanctifica- 
tion ? For what is likeness to God, but per- 
fection in holiness ? 

It may be difficult, indeed, for us, to fore- 
see and explain the manner, in which the 
knowledge of heaven will produce the effect, 
which is thus ascribed to it ; but, to do this 
is not necessary to our present purpose. It 
were easy to indulge in imagination and con- 
jecture ; but where revelation does not speak, 
it becomes us to be silent. All that concerns 
us, now, is a simple matter of fact ; and, in 
this view, the passage referred to is conclu- 
sive. It makes our perfect likeness to God, 
in the person of his Son, depend upon a mea- 
sure of knowledge, which we cannot have, 
until we " see him as he is." 

5. It is a fact, that, while Christians remain 



82 SANCTIFICATION 

in the present world, they will have corrupti- 
ble bodies ; this part of their nature will re- 
main, substantially, as it was, at the com- 
mencement of their Christian course ; and, in 
such a connexion, it is not to be expected, 
that they will arrive at a state of entire sanc- 
tification. 

The union between the body and the soul, 
and the nature and extent of their influence, 
the one upon the other, I am well aware, are 
intricate, and, in many respects, inexplicable 
subjects. The fact itself, however, that their 
reciprocal influence is not only real and great, 
but constant and necessary, all will admit. 
And, in view of this influence, as recognized 
in scripture and felt in the experience of all, 
I cannot doubt, that the dissolution of the 
body, as followed by its resurrection, is one 
of the appointed means of sanctification. As 
polluted by sin, it is like the leprous house, 
under the law of Moses, — the infection has 
extended, to every part, — the " stones," the 
"timber," and the "mortar," are all defiled, — 
and there is no way of removing the evil, 



STATED AND DEFENDED. S3 

but by demolishing the entire structure ; it 
must be taken down, and carried forth " out 
of the city, into an unclean place/' before 
the work of purification will be complete. 

If axorruptible body were consistent with 
a perfectly sanctified state of the soul, in this 
world, why might it not be consistent with 
the same state, in the world to come ? And 
why, on this supposition, is it necessary that 
believers should die ? Why are they not 
removed to heaven, as they are ? All that 
they need, to render them perfectly happy, is 
entire deliverance from the infection and pol- 
lution of sin. And, if this can be effected, 
without a change in the body, why not allow 
it to remain as it is ? If it should be said, in 
reply to this, that " flesh and blood cannot 
inherit the kingdom of God/' I inquire : 
Why ? Surely, not on account of any na- 
tural impossibility, which exists in the case. 
It will hardly be contended, that such a ma- 
terial structure as the human body, could not 
be taken to heaven, and dwell there, if there 
were nothing about it inconsistent with a 



84 SANCTIFICATION 

state of perfect holiness. It might be im- 
mortal, according to its present structure, as 
well as any other, if such were the will of 
God concerning it. It might be exempted, 
too, from all infirmity and suffering, without 
any radical alteration, in its form, or quali- 
ties. But, the truth is, that it cannot go to 
heaven because it is defiled — it is a " body 
of sin" — and must, therefore, be " sown in 
corruption," that it may be "raised in incor- 
ruption." As thus renewed and purified, by 
death, it will be a fit companion for the sanc- 
tified spirit ; the whole nature will, then, be 
entirely cleansed ; and nothing will remain, 
to overcloud the prospect of pure, perfect, 
and everlasting enjoyment. 

The idea of a perfectly holy spirit, remain- 
ing in connexion with a corruptible body, 
would present an incongruity, to which no 
parallel could be found in any of the other 
arrangements, or works of God. It is not 
only true, that his plans are wise, but also, 
that their wisdom can be generally seen, and 
appreciated, by the candid and careful ob- 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 85 

server. But, who could regard it as fit or 
reasonable, that, after the souls of believers 
are delivered from the last taint of corruption, 
they should still be confined to such a body as 
this ? As an apostle describes it, it is a " vile" 
body — a body, possessing many properties, 
in view of which, we have reason to be 
humbled — a body, distinguished by great in- 
firmity, and weakness — easily brought into a 
state of languor and fatigue — subject to innu- 
merable ills and distresses — furnishing many 
occasions of temptation to sin — and acting as 
a constant weight, upon the upward tenden- 
cies, and movements of the soul. Surely, 
when the work of sanctification upon the 
soul is done, God will provide it with a bet- 
ter place of residence than this. It cannot 
be, that he will leave it, any longer, in such 
a situation — to " groan, being burdened" — 
to endure the lustings of the flesh — to be an- 
noyed by the motions of sin, which proceed 
from the members — and to pass through 
successive stages and scenes, of disease and 
pain. Instead of this, it is far more consis- 
8 



86 SANCTIFICATION 

tent, to believe, that, when perfectly delivered 
from sin, it will be emancipated at once — 
will put off the tabernacle in which it has 
lived, while sojourning in this vale of tears — 
and rise to the mount, in which it is to be 
" clothed upon" with another and a better 
" house, which is from heaven." 

If it should occur here, in the form of an 
objection to the view just presented, that 
Jesus Christ was perfectly holy, while he 
tabernacled in a human body, it is only 
necessary to say that the cases are not paral- 
lel ; because his body was not polluted by 
sin. It was not sinful flesh, but only "the 
likeness of sinful flesh," in which he was 
made. God did not suffer his " Holy One to 
see corruption." He assumed our nature, 
as far as this could be done, " without sin"; 
and, that a difference might exist between 
his nature and ours, in respect to sin, he was 
not the offspring of man by ordinary genera- 
tion. The circumstances attending his in- 
troduction into the world, were peculiar. 
He came on a special visitation of grace and 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 87 

good-will to men ; and he came in such a 
way, as to bear their griefs and carry their 
sorrows, without participating, personally, in 
any of their corruptions, either in body or 
mind. 

In addition to the facts, thus far enume- 
rated, there are others which might be intro- 
duced ; but these are sufficient for our present 
purpose. They are facts, which appear to 
us, to be incompatible with perfect freedom 
from sin. And we therefore conclude, that 
entire sanctification rn this life, is not con- 
templated, as an attainable state, in the 
scheme of human redemption. The work 
of renewing our fallen nature to holiness, is 
commenced and continued here, but not com- 
pleted. The period through which its per- 
formance extends, is from the moment of 
regeneration, "till the day of Jesus Christ.'* 
It is not the plan or purpose of God, to bring 
it to maturity sooner. And accordingly, no 
instance of such maturity can be produced 
from the records of the past; there is no 



88 SANCTIFICATION, ETC. 

reason for expecting it to be derived from 
any intimations which are contained in 
Scripture ; and the incongruity between it 
and other acknowledged facts, would be such 
as to invade, and, in respect to this point, to 
destroy, the analogy of faith. 



PART III. 

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



It is strongly objected, by the advocates of 
perfection, to the view presented in this dis- 
cussion, that its practical tendencies cannot 
be otherwise than injurious ; that it must 
have the effect, of lowering the standard of 
piety, of cutting the nerves of exertion, and 
of producing a dwarfish and doubtful state 
of religion in the church, instead of those 
high and bright illustrations of the power of 
godliness, which all should desire to see. 
And, if the ground, taken in this objection, 
were tenable ; if it could be shown, either 
from facts in the case, or by other sufficient 
reasons, that the doctrine here maintained, 

is less favourable to holy living, than the 
89 8* 



90 SANCTIFICATION 

principles of those who oppose it — we should 
feel bound to surrender our position, and ac- 
knowledge our mistake. The test by which 
we desire every article of our faith to be 
tried, is that furnished by our Saviour, when 
he says, " by their fruits ye shall know them." 
This is the language of reason, as well as of 
revelation ; and, by its requirements, let 
every doctrine either stand or fall. 

What, then, are the facts, as to the prac- 
tical effect of the doctrine, maintained in the 
foregoing discussion ? 

I reply — to go no farther back — that, be- 
yond dispute, nearly all the active piety, 
that has glorified God and blessed the world, 
since the dawn of the Reformation, has been 
the piety of those by whom this doctrine has 
been held. It was held by Luther and Me- 
lancthon — the latter of whom, with the ap- 
probation of the former, drew up a formal pro- 
test, against the views of those, who maintain 
" that a sinless perfection in this life, is attain- 
able." It has been the doctrine, too, of 
such men as Owen, and Baxter, and White- 
field, and Brainerd, and Edwards, and Pay- 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 91 

son, and a thousand others, among the living 
and the dead, whom the bare suggestion will 
recall to the recollection of every reader. 
And who were these, but men " of whom the 
world was not worthy?" — men, who, by 
their holy lives and abundant labours, have 
left an impress upon the Church and the 
world, which will never be effaced ? — men r 
whose names and virtues will go down to 
the latest posterity, as affording the brightest 
illustrations of the power of Divine grace> 
which have ever been furnished ? It may 
serve a purpose, to say, of such men, that 
they were unacquainted wih the true secret 
of attaining to eminent holiness — that be- 
cause they despaired of perfection in this 
life, they were justly chargeable with mak- 
ing " void the law of God," by their " tradi- 
tions" — that they were " slumbering in An- 
tinomian death, or struggling in legal bond- 
age" — but the intelligent Christian will not 
be likely to follow this new light, in pre- 
ference to the light of their illustrious exam- 
ple. Their record is not only on high, but 
in the affections of the pious on earth. And 



92 SANCTIFICATION 

their memory, while time shall last, will be 
"a savour of life unto life.? 5 

But, while the holiest and most efficient 
men, whom the world has ever seen, have 
been unbelievers in the doctrine of perfection, 
what has been the fact, where this doctrine 
has prevailed ? That many eminent Chris- 
tians have held the doctrine of a modified 
perfection is, indeed, true ; and I refer, in 
this remark, especially, to the " Christian 
Perfection 5 ' of Wesley, and others, who have 
entertained the same views. His perfection, 
as he himself defines it, " is consistent with 
infirmities,' 5 with "ignorance/ 5 and "mis- 
takes, 55 with " thinking wrong' 5 and " doing 
wrong. 55 In reality, therefore, it is not per- 
fection, in the sense of entire conformity to 
the law of God ; but something else, to which 
the word perfection is wrongly applied. Into 
its practical effects, therefore, we stop not to 
inquire — although it would be easy to show, 
that, modified and guarded as it is, it has not 
been unproductive of evil. But, in regard 
to perfection, or entire sanctification, as im- 
plying sinless obedience to the moral law in 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 93 

this life, we have no hesitation in affirming, 
that, where ever it has had " free course," 
its moral effects have been bad. It prevailed 
extensively, in connexion with the rise and 
early progress of Pelagianism, in the fourth 
century. It appeared among the first forms 
of fanaticism, which showed themseves after 
the commencement of the Reformation. It 
had no little currency in England, during the 
seventeenth century. More recently, we 
have not been without examples of its ex- 
istence and prevalence, in our own country, 
at different times, and in different places. 
And, wherever it has gone, it has carried 
with it a blighting influence, upon every 
thing which is "lovely" and "of good re- 
port." It has led, as might naturally be ex- 
pected, to the neglect of all prayer, whether 
private, social, or public ; for what has the 
individual to pray for, who is already per- 
fect ? It has led to an abandonment of the 
means of grace, in general — to a partial or 
total neglect of the Sabbath — and to great 
indifference towards benevolent enterprises 
of every kind. It has engendered a censorious 



94 SANCTIFICATION 

and denunciatory spirit, and been accom- 
panied by contempt for the rules and disci- 
pline of the church. In short, it is the lan- 
guage of all history and the testimony of all 
observation, that, where Perfectionism pre- 
vails, neither the substance nor the form, of 
religion can long be expected to dwell. 

In saying this, I am not ignorant of the 
attempt which is made, to distinguish be- 
tween the Perfectionism, which has produced 
these effects, and the doctrine of entire sanc- 
tification, as advocated by some, in our coun- 
try, who are now living. It is strenuously 
maintained, that the two things are, not only 
different from each other, but in direct oppo- 
sition — having nothing in common. But 
this is made out, by using the word Perfec- 
tionism in a technical sense, and applying it, 
gratuitously, to represent the abuses, to 
which we have just referred. < These errors 
and disorders/ they say, < are Perfectionism : 
but our doctrine of entire sanctification is a 
different thing.' But wherein, is it a dif- 
ferent thing ? In all, that entitles it to be 
called Perfection, it is the same thing. It 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 95 

feeds the mind with the notion of entire free- 
dom from sin ; and this is, at once, the es- 
sence of the system, and the reason of its 
danger. Such an appeal, to the self-esteem 
and self-righteousness of our nature, never 
can be entertained, without leading to disas- 
trous results. Various circumstances may 
restrain, or delay the development, for a 
while 5 but, ere long, it will come, with all 
the evils which follow in its train. 

But, without dwelling longer upon the facts 
in the case, as they present themselves in the 
history of the past, I proceed to say, that 
those who anticipate better effects from the 
doctrine of Perfection than from the common 
doctrine of Sanctification, reason falsely, as 
to the principles, from which these effects are 
expected to proceed. The question is asked, 
for instance : " Who would expect an army 
to fight, with energy, under the impression 
of inevitable defeat ?" And this, it is taken 
for granted, is a parallel case to that of the 
Christian, who entertains no hope of entire 
sanctification in the present life. But, is it 
so ? Has he the impression of inevitable 



96 SANCTIFICATION 

defeat, because he expects the war to be 
somewhat protracted? Does he lay down 
his arms, in despair, because he believes that 
more than one battle is to be fought ? Does 
he cease from the contest, because he does 
not anticipate a perfect triumph, until the 
"last enemy" shall "be destroyed," which 
f is death ?" The truth is, that, on his own 
principles, he has an expectation of victory, 
which is qualified by no peradventure ; — he 
anticipates it, with unwavering faith, and 
with joyful hope ; — it is as certain to him, as 
the love and faithfulness of God can make 
it ; — nay, he has the earnest of it, in his pre- 
sent success ; — he has already come off as a 
conqueror in many a struggle ; — he is pur- 
suing his advantage from one battle-field to 
another ; and he has no doubt, that the time 
is near, when all the armies of the aliens 
shall be put to flight, 

" And death, the last of all his foes, 
Lie vanquished at his feet." 

So far, therefore, as the certainty of success 
is concerned, he has the same reason to per- 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 97 

severe and be active, with those who antici- 
pate a speedier triumph. 

Again: it is wrong, in principle, to say, 
that the hope of success, in order to be an 
efficient motive, must terminate upon acqui- 
sitions to be made within the limits of the 
present life. This is neither consistent with 
Scripture, nor in accordance with actual ex- 
perience. The hope of the apostles and pri- 
mitive Christians, was a hope, which " en- 
tereth into that within the veil ;" and, this 
was the reason why it was an " anchor to 
the soul." It tarried upon no amount of 
holiness or happiness to be acquired upon 
earth. It overlooked all the scenes of this 
present time, and seized upon, the perfection 
of another state. It transported its subjects 
beyond the region where sin and sorrow 
dwell, and brought them into communion 
with the inhabitants and felicities of heaven. 
And this was the true secret of its animating 
and sustaining influence. It derived its en- 
ergy from the importance and glory of its 
object ; and this was something entirely above 

and beyond any degrees of sanctification, to 
9 



98 SANCTIFICATION 

be anticipated here. " Every man/' says an 
apostle, " that hath this hope in him, purifieth 
himself/' Such a hope will undoubtedly 
sanctify those in whom it dwells ; but a si- 
milar influence is never ascribed to any hope, 
the object of which is to be realized on this 
side of the grave. 

Moreover : it is incorrect to assume, that 
the Christian derives his strongest impulses 
to holy living, from direct meditations upon 
his prospect of success. No doubt, he has 
"respect unto the recompense of reward," 
both here and hereafter $ and yet, his expe- 
rience will bear me out in saying, that his 
heart is never assailed by more irresitible 
motives to active and entire consecration to 
God, than when his mind is most fully oc- 
cupied by other considerations than those 
which relate immediately to himself. What 
was it, for instance, that produced and nur- 
tured, that engagedness in religion, which 
rendered the Apostle Paul " a spectacle to 
the world ?" Men, accustomed to judge on 
common principles, could not understand 
him. It was strange, to the popular appre- 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 99 

hension, that a man should sacrifice his per- 
sona] ease and worldly interests, to such a 
degree, and be so willing to encounter perse- 
cutions and trials of every sort. And, in 
what did the true secret of this self-denial 
and devotedness consist ? In what direction 
did his thoughts lie, when he felt the in- 
fluence of the violent motive which produced 
these wonderful effects ? Was he taken up 
with reflections on the degree of proficiency 
at which he expected to arrive ? Was he 
meditating upon what was likely, in any re- 
spect, to accrue to himself? Or, was he 
transported, for the time, beyond the circle 
of his personal interests and relations, and 
invested, on every side, by the overwhelm- 
ing influence of another motive ? Let him 
answer, in his own language, as he does, in 
the memorable declaration — " the love of 
Christ constraineth us !" Here was the 
main-spring of his activity — this was the 
secret fire, which burned within, and kept 
his zeal in a perpetual flame. Standing, 
with his face towards Calvary, with his eye 
on the cross, and with his mind intent upon 



100 SANCTIFICATION 

the compassion and condescension of a suffer- 
ing Saviour, he was carried beyond himself, 
and was borne away, by the impulse of a 
mightier and more generous motive. So it 
is, in all the higher achievements of the 
Christian life. It is not, by sitting down to 
meditate upon the prospect of our perfect 
sanctification, that we gather the strongest 
motives to the pursuit of holiness. Our best 
seasons, both of feeling and action, are those, 
in which we think least of ourselves, and 
most, of the love of God, of the compassion 
of Christ, of the claims of gratitude and duty, 
and of the beauty and excellency of holiness 
itself. We are not servants, who work 
merely for wages, but we are bound to our em- 
ployment, by love and gratitude to the mas- 
ter, as well as by the happiness we find in 
the service itself. " We love him, because 
he first loved us" — his " thoughts" are " pre- 
cious" to us, and, if we " should count them, 
they are more in number than the sand" — 
we delight in his law — we love the habita- 
tion of his house — we take pleasure in his 
worship, and in the fellowship of his people 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 101 

: — his " yoke is easy" to us, and his " burden 
light." And, in these considerations, are 
contained our highest inducements, to perse- 
vere in his service, and live to his glory. 
" For none of us liveth to himself, and no 
man dieth to himself; for whether we live, 
we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, 
we die unto the Lord ; whether we live, 
therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." 

Great results are expected from the doc- 
trine of Perfection, by its friends, upon the 
ground of the high standard of piety, which 
it is supposed to present. But, the truth is, 
that it lowers the standard, instead of raising 
it, — and this is its worst feature. " The law," 
says one of its principal advocates, " levels 
its claims to us as Ave are." He contends, 
that the standard of duty is what the law re- 
quires of us, " in our circumstances, with all 
the ignorance, and debility of body and mind, 
which have resulted from the intemperance 
and abuse of the human constitution, through 
so many generations." He thinks the stand- 
ard will be higher, hereafter, "when the 

human constitution, by the universal preva- 
9 * 



102 SANCTIFICATION 

lence of correct and thorough temperance 
principles may have acquired its pristine 
health and powers !" — In this way, the rule 
of holy living is brought down, in the case 
of each individual, to the level of his depra-> 
vity and corruption. And, I trust, the time 
is yet to come, when intelligent Christians 
will ask for arguments to convince them, that 
no good effects are to be anticipated, from 
aiming at such a standard as this. Perfect 
holiness, according to this rule, would be 
easily obtained, and worth but little, when 
acquired. Be it our purpose, to aim at a 
higher standard — to keep our eye fixed upon 
a brighter, and more shining mark — to be 
satisfied with no attainments, until Ave are 
" perfect/' as our " Father in heaven is per- 
fect." And, then, we shall never be with- 
out a motive to continued activity, and in- 
creasing faithfulness, in the discharge of duty* 
It should not be forgotten, in estimating 
the practical relations of the doctrine we 
have endeavoured to establish, that the condi- 
tion of the Christian upon earth, as always 
contending with remaining sin, is made sub- 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 103 

servient, in a high degree, to the promotion 
of the glory of God. He often permits things 
to occur, with a view to this end, which, in 
themselves, are evil. It is, only, on this 
principle, that we can account for the intro- 
duction of sin into the world. And, though 
it might seem desirable, in itself, that the be- 
ing of sin should be destroyed immediately, 
in those who become the subjects of the re- 
demption by Christ, yet it is easy to see, in 
what manner the protraction of the spiritual 
warfare may tend to honour the perfections 
of his nature, — especially his power, his wis- 
dom, his faithfulness and truth. His power 
appears, in carrying on the work, which he 
has commenced in them, in opposition to so 
many opposing influences, from within and 
from without. It is like keeping a spark 
alive, while surrounded with water, or pre- 
venting a bush from being consumed, while 
it burns in the fire. His wisdom appears, in 
circumventing the designs of Satan, who still 
works upon the remaining corruption of his 
people — in setting bounds to his rage and 
power, — and in establishing their faith and 



104 SANCTIFICATION 

hope, in opposition to his devices. And his 
faithfulness and truth are illustrated, in not 
forsaking his people, though they serve him 
so imperfectly — in fulfilling his promises to 
them, though they are so unstable in their 
attachment to him — and, in pursuing them 
with grace and mercy, through all their times 
of need, though they fail, in so great a mea- 
sure, to bring forth the fruit which he requires. 
Finally : we have reason to be satisfied, 
with the common doctrine of sanctification, 
because it is best adapted, to reconcile us to 
the approach of death, and to endear to us 
the prospect of the heavenly rest. Death, in 
itself, is always an unwelcome visitor to the 
abodes of men ; and strong counterbalancing 
considerations are necessary to keep down 
the risings of regret and fear, in the prospect 
of its coming. If I am to anticipate no 
greater deliverance from sin, beyond it, than 
that to which I have already attained, there 
is nothing, in this view, to reconcile me to its 
approach. But, if the struggle with this 
king of terrors is to fix the date of my last 
contest with sin, as well as with sorrow — if 



STATED AND DEFENDED. 105 

my "earthly house of this tabernacle" is to 
be "dissolved," that I may awake, in the 
perfect likeness of God — if the purity and 
glory of heaven, to which I am hastening, is 
a boundless ocean, in comparison with the 
narrow streams of holiness and delight, which 
are circulating here — and, if the only way, 
from the one to the other, is across the waters 
of Jordan — then, welcome death ! The 
thought itself is repulsive, but the asso- 
ciation is inspiring ! The valley is dark and 
gloomy, but the prospect, beyond, is bright 
and clear ! The advantage to be gained, is 
greater than the evil to be encountered. And 
this consideration extracts the sting of death, 
and enables us to triumph over it, while we 
fall by its stroke. 



THE END. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: August 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



fi r 



(yot 





o 

c5 
o 


CO 


scrip 


t u r e 


doc 


t r 


i n Q 1 s n 


II mil 


mil 


pi n r 

ML 


|I|I|lfipifi|I|tl 


ll|l 


i ii|l ii iipf! 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 651 357 8 



